Bootleggers' business left high & dry in Shravan

With several regular customers going off booze during Shravan, it’s pack-up time for the city’s bootleggers, many of whom are using the time off to take a vacation.

Sources say trade has dipped by 80% due to the ongoing Shravan, a month of fasting and devotion.

With orders down to a trickle, bootleggers are at a loss. “I have completely closed down my operations and will only start after August 20,” a bootlegger from Amraivadi told DNA. The problem they face is while demand has gone down drastically, they have to shell out haftas to the police, he said, resulting in heavy losses. A wholesale bootlegger pegged the average consumption in the city to around 7,000 cartons or 85,000 bottles per day. “Demand has whittled down to just 20,000 bottles per day now,” he added.

“Usually, a truck carrying liquor has a total of 600 boxes. Over eight to 10 such trucks are unloaded in the city on a daily basis,” he said. Lack of demand from retailers has resulted in fewer trucks coming in.

Interestingly, the bootlegger’s loss seems to be the fruitseller’s gain. A retailer said the money they get from regular customers is now going toward buying fruits as either the customer or someone in his family is fasting and needs to consume more fruits. With fruit prices soaring, it’s hardly surprising that the whiskey and rum are being sacrificed even by the die-hard guzzlers.